Flag carrier Qatar Airways yesterday (December 8) launched its ferry flight from Hamad International Airport to JFK International, becoming the first airline to fly the Airbus A350 to the US.

Qatar Airways was the global launch carrier of the A350 and is the first to fly the aircraft to three continents; the airline’s fleet of seven A350s currently flies twice a day to Frankfurt, double-daily to Munich and three times a day to Singapore from Doha.

An eighth A350 will join the fleet before the end of the year and is scheduled to fly daily to Philadelphia from January 1, 2016. As further A350s join the fleet throughout 2016, passengers will have the opportunity to experience this new-generation aircraft on flights to Boston launching on March 16, and the new second daily flight to New York from April 1 and Adelaide, Australia from May 2.

“We are proud to be the first commercial airline to land the Airbus A350 in the United States,” said Qatar Airways group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker. “As the global launch customer of this new-generation aircraft, we are excited to introduce it to the American market, where we will commence commercial flights from January 1, 2016 on our route from Philadelphia.” – TradeArabia News Service